CPLT 325 World Lit. since 1650 Syllabus, Fall 2015 – Alfred J. Drake's Academic Site

SYLLABUS FOR CPLT 325 WORLD LITERATURE SINCE 1650
CSU FULLERTON, FALL 2015

COURSE INFORMATION. English 325, Course Code 21001, Section 2. M/W 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m., McCarthy Hall (MH) 049. Instructor: Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D. Office hours: M/W 12:00 p.m – 12:55 p.m. in University Hall (UH) 329. Email: 325_at_ajdrake.com. Catalog: “Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and completion of any literature course from G. E. Category III.B.2. Asian and Western literature from 1650 to the present. Units: (3).” I will use +/- grading. The English Dept. may be reached at (657) 278-3253. Students who need special accommodations should contact the Disabled Student Services Office in UH 101 or call (657) 278-3117; for the Irvine Campus, see Student Affairs, IRVC-159 phone (657) 278-3112. One other required link: Emergency Preparedness Guidelines.

REQUIRED TEXTS AT TITAN BOOKSTORE

Puchner, Martin and Suzanne C. Akbari. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 3rd edition. Vols. D/E/F. Norton: 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0393933666.

COURSE RATIONALE AND ACTIVITIES

FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES. This course will cover a selection of texts by authors from various literary and cultural traditions in Europe, Asia, the Middle/Near East, Africa, and the Americas. A survey should help you build your knowledge of the periods, authors, and movements studied. My comments will provide historical and thematic background, but the course will center on discussion of the specifics of our assigned texts. Rather than trying to impose claims of universal coherence, thematic unity, etc. on such wide-ranging material, I prefer to follow a roughly chronological order and to discuss themes and issues as they occur throughout the course, making connections where appropriate.

ACTIVITIES. In class, there will be a mix of lectures, student presentations, whole-class and smaller-group discussion, occasional quizzes, an essay, and a final exam. I encourage questions and comments—class sessions improve when students take an active part. Outside class, do the assigned readings before the relevant discussion dates, complete your journal sets as outlined below, start planning and drafting your essay early, and work on your presentation drafts. In literary studies, the aim is to read and discuss actively and thereby to develop your own voice in response to the texts you read. Insightful interpretation and the ability to make compelling connections are central goals. The essay, discussions, presentations, and journal-keeping should combine to help you work towards these goals.

HOW YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED

COURSE POLICIES. Please review the course policies page early in the semester. Key points easily stated here: missing more than 20% of sessions may affect course grade; academic dishonesty may result in course failure. The four evaluative requirements outlined below must be substantially completed to pass the course. Since most assignments will be due by email, contact me promptly if you do not receive an email verifying receipt of materials.

PRESENTATIONS REQUIREMENT. At the beginning of the course, students will sign up for one or two (depending on class size) 5-7 minute in-class presentation on an author/text of their choosing (if possible). Several days after sign-up, I will post a schedule on the Presentations page. Each session will feature one or more presentations. How to Proceed: Work out your own topic to address regarding the author/text I assign you or ask me in person what might be a good topic to develop on that author/text, and at least a week before you are due to present, email me with as full a draft as possible. I will email you back with some advice. If I suggest developing the draft further, email me a revised version at least one day before your in-class presentation. I won’t judge students on their in-class rhetorical skills but rather on prior preparation and consultation as well as on the written draft. How to do well on this assignment: email me as required, and send a final written version. Good critics challenge and pose questions, so craft your responses to invite discussion. (15-20% of course grade.)

JOURNALS REQUIREMENT. Four separate journal sets due by email as specified below in the session schedule. For this class, the journals will not be based on study questions but will rather take their origin from questions and observations of your own — see the journal instructions page for further information on this. Electronic format required. I will not mark journal sets down unless they are late (maximum grade = B), incomplete, or so brief and derivative as to suggest evasion of intellectual labor: they should consist of honest responses to the assigned readings, not “yes-or-no” style answers, quotation of the assigned texts without further comment, or pasted secondary material from Internet sources. How to do well on this assignment: read instructions; complete entries as you go through each text; send sets on time, making sure I verify receipt; respond with a thoughtful entry — use your own words and refer to the texts’ specific language. (30% of course grade.)

TERM PAPER REQUIREMENT. As a preliminary step, a one-paragraph description addressing the general topic and specific argument of the projected paper will be due by email on the date specified in the syllabus below. (Full rough drafts are also encouraged.) Not providing this description on time may affect the final draft grade. Please read the term paper instructions carefully since they contain the general prompt, possibly some suggested topics, and advance draft comments. I reserve the right to require proof of the final paper’s authenticity, such as notes or an early draft. Final draft (5-7 pages) due as specified towards the bottom of the syllabus page. There is no need to consider this a research paper, though you are free to make it one if that’s how you learn best. CSUF academic integrity policies apply. See UPS 300-021. See also CSUF Library. How to do well on this assignment: send required advance paragraph on time and incorporate advice I send; allow time for revision; proofread and follow MLA formatting and style guidelines; avoid exhaustive coverage and stale generalities: instead, develop a specific, arguable set of claims, demonstrating their strength by showing how they enhance our understanding of specific language, structures, and themes; document your online/print sources; read instructions and take advantage of our writing guides: MLA, Grammar, Deductive, Citing, Analyzing, and Editing. (30% of course grade.)

FINAL EXAM REQUIREMENT. The exam will consist of substantive id passages (33% of exam), mix-and-match questions (match phrase or concept x to speaker/play y; 33% of exam), and key lecture points paired with substantive quotations from the assigned texts (33% of exam). Books and notes allowed for all sections, but no laptops. Students may not share books or notes during the exam. Exam date: see below. How to do well on this assignment: read the online prep. sheet; take good notes and ask questions/make comments; above all, enjoy the works rather than thinking of them only as “test material.” (20-25% of course grade.)

EMAILING ASSIGNMENTS TO 325_AT_AJDRAKE.COM. Email journals and term paper as attachments. Don’t send more than one document in the same email. Label subject lines appropriately: “CPLT 325 Journal 1, Don Silva” etc. You can paste journal sets into a regular email and/or send them as an attachment. (Journal “sets” include responses to questions about several authors; do not send entries on each author in a given set separately — responses on the relevant authors should be combined into one document.) Contact me if you don’t receive a prompt email confirmation.

QUESTIONS FOR JOURNALS AND PRESENTATIONS

*2023 Note. Visitors may download the following questions in PDF format: ANCIENT WORLD LITERATURE | MODERN WORLD LITERATURE.

SCHEDULE: WORKS DISCUSSED ON DATES INDICATED

WEEK 1

M. 08/24. Course Introduction.

W. 08/26. Matsuo Basho. The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Vol. D, 616-28). Read also Vol. D, 613-15 introduction, “The World of Haiku.”

WEEK 2

M. 08/31. Ihara Saikaku. The Life of a Sensuous Woman (Vol. D, 591-611). Read also “Early Modern Japanese Popular Literature” (Vol. D, 585-90).

W. 09/02. Section “What is Enlightenment?”: Samuel Johnson through Denis Diderot/Jean D’Alembert (Vol. D, 101-27). Read also the introduction: “The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas” (Vol. D, 91-99).

WEEK 3

M. 09/07. Labor Day Holiday, No Classes.

W. 09/09. Section “What is Enlightenment?” Benjamin Franklin through the Marquis de Sade (Vol. D, 127-40; i.e. read all the selections in this section on the Enlightenment). Read also the introduction: “The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas” (Vol. D, 91-99).

WEEK 4

M. 09/14. Voltaire. Candide, Chapters 1-18 (Vol. D, 355-85).

W. 09/16. Voltaire. Candide, Chapters 19-30 (Vol. D, 385-413).

WEEK 5

M. 09/21. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust (Vol. E, 102-76). Read also Section Intro: “An Age of Revolutions in Europe and the Americas” (Vol. E, 3-21).

W. 09/23. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust (Vol. E, 176-208).

JOURNAL SET 1 DUE BY EMAIL MONDAY 09/28; SEE INSTRUCTIONS. (Set includes Basho through Goethe. Please expect an email from me verifying receipt of this and subsequent journal sets.)

WEEK 6

M. 09/28. Romanticism: William Blake’s “The Tyger” ( Vol. E, 339) and “London” (Vol. E, 340); Friedrich Hölderlin’s “The Half of Life” (343), “Hyperion’s Song of Fate” (343-44), “Brevity” (344), “To the Fates” (344); William Wordsworth’s “…Tintern Abbey” (351-54); Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” (379). Read also “Romantic Poets and Their Successors” (322-25).

W. 09/30. Romanticism, continued: Heinrich Heine’s selections (415-17) and Giacomo Leopardi’s selections (418-20). Charles Baudelaire’s selections from The Flowers of Evil (466-80).

WEEK 7

M. 10/05. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes from Underground, Part I entire and Part II, Chapters 1-3 (Vol. E, 635-708). Read also introduction, “Realism Across the Globe” (Vol. E, 625-74).

W. 10/07. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes from Underground, Part II, Chapters. 4-10 (Vol. E, 635-708).

WEEK 8

M. 10/12. Leo Tolstoy. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Chapters I-VI (Vol. E, 740-64).

W. 10/14. Leo Tolstoy. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Chapters VII-XII (Vol. E, 764-78).

WEEK 9

M. 10/19. Anton Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard, Acts 1-2 (Vol. E, 850-72).

W. 10/21. Anton Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard, Acts 3-4 (Vol. E, 872-89).

JOURNAL SET 2 DUE BY EMAIL MONDAY 10/26. (Blake through Chekhov.)

WEEK 10

M. 10/26. Rabindranath Tagore. “Punishment” (Vol. E, 893-99) and “Kabuliwala” (Vol. E, 899-904).

W. 10/28. Higuchi Ichiyo. “Separate Ways” (Vol. E, 907-13).

WEEK 11

M. 11/02. Franz Kafka. The Metamorphosis, Chapters 1-2 (Vol. F, 210-31). Read also the introduction, “Modernity and Modernism, 1900-1945 (Vol. F, 3-13).

W. 11/04. Franz Kafka. The Metamorphosis, Chapter 3 (Vol. F, 231-41).

WEEK 12

M. 11/09. Bertolt Brecht. The Good Woman of Setzuan, Prologue and Scenes 1-6a (Vol. F, 434-69).

W. 11/11. Veterans Day Holiday, No Classes.

JOURNAL SET 3 DUE BY EMAIL WEDNESDAY 11/18. (Set includes Tagore through Brecht.)

PARAGRAPH ON TOPIC AND ARGUMENT FOR TERM PAPER DUE BY EMAIL FRIDAY 11/20.

WEEK 13

M. 11/16. Bertolt Brecht. The Good Woman of Setzuan, Scenes 7-10, Epilogue (Vol. F, 469-87).

W. 11/18. Federico Garcia Lorca. “Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias” (Vol. F, 577-83). Pablo Neruda. Read all selections (Vol. F, 585-99). Octavio Paz. “I Speak of the City” (Vol. F, 634-37).

WEEK 14

M. 11/23. Fall Recess, No Classes.

W. 11/25. Fall Recess, No Classes.

WEEK 15

M. 11/30. Nawal el Saadawi. “In Camera” (Vol. F, 1106-15). Chu T’ien-Hsin. “Man of La Mancha” (Vol. F, 1233-40). Read also introduction “Contemporary World Literature” (Vol. F, 925-32).

W. 12/02. Ngugi wa Thiong’o. “Wedding at the Cross” (Vol. F, 1038-49).

WEEK 16

M. 12/07. Wole Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman, Scenes 1-3 (Vol. F, 1051-78).

W. 12/09. Wole Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman Scenes 4-5 (Vol. F, 1078-98).

JOURNAL SET 4 DUE BY EMAIL EXAM DAY; SEE INSTRUCTIONS. (Garcia Lorca through Soyinka.)

FINALS WEEK

Final Exam Date Monday, Dec. 14 from 2:30 – 4:20 p.m. Due by email by Monday, Dec. 21: Term Paper. (I must turn in grades by Jan. 2, 2016.) For your other courses, check CSUF’s Final Exam Schedule.

SYLLABUS FOR CPLT 325 WORLD LITERATURE SINCE 1650CSU FULLERTON, FALL 2015